Motorized watercraft

ABSTRACT

A motorized watercraft includes a board and a cassette coupleable to the board. The board may be a surf board or a wakesurf board with a top surface and a bottom surface. The top surface includes a mounting space for receiving the cassette with an outer surface of the cassette in alignment with the top surface of the board and the bottom surface of the board includes an intake. The cassette includes a power source, an electric motor, an impeller, and a controller. The controller executes instructions to activate the electric motor and rotate the impeller to provide a short burst of forward thrust during operation of the watercraft in response to an input from a user. The thrust assists a user with maintaining their position on a wake during surfing or wakesurfing.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure is directed to a motorized watercraft, and in particular, but not exclusively, to a watercraft with a motor capable of selectively providing short bursts of thrust or propulsion for watersports activities.

Description of the Related Art

Surfing is a well-known watersport where a rider utilizes a surfboard to ride an ocean wave. However, surfing can only be performed at certain locations and in certain conditions, which limits the application and availability of this activity.

In response, the sport of wakesurfing emerged. Wakesurfing is a sport or water activity where a rider utilizes a small surfboard to ride on a standing wave provided by a lead boat. The wave from the lead boat is intended to mimic an ocean wave, such that the experience of the user is akin to traditional surfing. In more detail, the rider is generally parallel with the boat and rides or “surfs” on the wave while the wave is continuously generated by a boat that is traveling at a slow to medium speed for creating the largest possible wake. In some applications, this speed is approximately 9-12 miles per hour. The rider is not tethered to the boat or otherwise assisted by the boat as with wakeboarding or water skiing, but rather, maintains their position on the wave in a method similar to that of traditional surfing. Wakesurfing therefore involves riding a standing wave where the wave is near parallel to the direction of motion of the lead boat and the rider is utilizing the wake to generate forward motion to maintain speed with the lead boat. In particular, the rider ideally maintains their position in a “pocket” of the wave between the base of the wave and its crest that enables the rider to maintain enough speed to stay in the wake. While wakesurfing can potentially be performed and enjoyed in a much wider range of locations and conditions than traditional surfing, there are a number of disadvantages.

For example, wakesurfing remains difficult to learn for many users. As above, the rider is responsible for maintaining their speed on the wake according to the speed of the boat. If the rider is unable to do so, the rider will fall out of the wake, and the boat must stop and turn around to pick up the rider. Not only is this disruptive to the activity, but the continuous starting and stopping of the boat wastes time and fuel and may also damage shorelines by continuously sending waves from the boat to a concentrated location on the shore. It is difficult for many users, and particularly new riders, to learn how to appropriately maintain their speed and the rider falling out of the wake is an extremely common occurrence as a result. Riders of different sizes also benefit from different size boards, similar to surfing, which increases costs and storage requirements associated with the activity.

In addition, larger wakes are generally advantageous for wake surfing, not only for enjoyment but also for learning how to wakesurf. It is easier for a rider to maintain their position in the wake where the wake is larger because the pocket is larger. As the rider approaches the top of the wake and is about to fall out of the wake, the rider can orient themselves toward the boat with the size and steep angle of a larger wake quickly increasing the rider's speed to enable them to catch up to the boat and continue the activity. In addition, more time is required to traverse a larger wake and thus a rider has a longer reaction period to adjust their position on a larger wake before falling out of the wake. However, boats that are capable of providing an advantageously large wake are prohibitively expensive with the cost of a new boat with such functionality commonly being more than one hundred thousand dollars. Many smaller boats or boats without technology for producing large wakes do not produce a large enough wake to enable wakesurfing by even experienced riders because the wake pocket is simply too small for the activity. As a result, it is very difficult for new riders to learn to wakesurf without a specialized boat. The application and accessibility of wakesurfing therefore remains limited.

As a result, it would be advantageous to have system, devices, and methods that overcome the disadvantages above associated with wakesurfing and known wakesurfing technologies.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure is generally directed to motorized watercraft systems, devices, and methods provided in a form factor of a surf board or wakesurf board. The watercraft includes a motor mounted in a removable cassette on the board that provides a short period of thrust in response to an input from a rider or other user to enable the rider to briefly increase their speed relative to a lead boat and avoid falling out of a wake. The term “cassette” may refer to a structure or assembly that is insertable and removable with respect to a board in some examples. The cassette may also be referred to as a housing containing a propulsion system or more generally as a thrust assembly, as described in more detail below. The watercraft may be associated with a remote control device controllable by the rider for this purpose. As a result, the concepts of the disclosure make learning to wakesurf easier, while also enabling wake surfing for a wider range of boats, including boats with smaller wakes. Further, one board can be utilized by riders of different sizes based on the controllable thrust (i.e., an adult rider may select to utilize more thrust than a child rider) with the concepts of the disclosure also allowing for riders to perform additional “tricks” and other variations of the sport because of the additional thrust capabilities. The concepts of the disclosure also save fuel and time by decreasing occurrences of the rider falling out of the week, and preserve coastlines by reducing or eliminating the resulting concentration of waves along the shoreline from turning.

In one or more embodiments, a system may be summarized as including a cassette removably coupleable to a board, the cassette including: a power source; an electric motor in communication with the power source; an impeller coupled to the electric motor; and a controller in communication with the power source and the electric motor, the controller including a memory configured to store instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to activate the electric motor to rotate the impeller and provide a forward thrust over an amount of time less than an operational time of the cassette in response to an input from a user.

The board may be a surf board or a wakesurf board that includes: a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; a mounting space in the first surface; and an intake in the second surface.

The cassette is received in the mounting space in the first surface of the board and aligned with the first surface.

The cassette may also be configured to intake water from the intake in the second surface of the board and output water from the impeller in a direction aligned with the board.

The amount of time of the forward thrust is less than ten seconds and the forward thrust is between 100 to 600 Newtons.

The memory may be configured to store further instructions with the at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to repeatedly activate the electric motor to rotate the impeller and provide the forward thrust for the amount of time at several different instances during the operational time of the cassette in response to additional inputs from the user.

The system may further include a remote control device in communication with the controller of the cassette, the remote control device configured to receive the input from the user and transmit one or more signals to the controller.

One or more embodiments of a system may be summarized as including: a board including a body with a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface, a mounting space in the top surface of the body, an intake in the bottom surface of the body, one or more fins coupled to the bottom surface of the body; and a cassette removably coupled to the board, the cassette receivable in the mounting space in the body of the board with at least a portion of an outer surface of the cassette planar with the top surface of the body of the board, the cassette including a power source, an electric motor in communication with the power source, and an impeller coupled to the electric motor.

The cassette further includes a controller in communication with the power source and the electric motor with the controller including a memory configured to store instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to activate the electric motor to rotate the impeller and provide a forward thrust over an amount of time less than an operational time of the cassette in response to an input from a user.

A remote control device is in communication with the controller of the cassette with the remote control device configured to receive the input from the user and transmit one or more signals to the controller.

The cassette is configured to intake water from the intake in the second surface of the board and output water from the impeller in a direction aligned with a central axis of the board between the first surface and the second surface of the board.

The board may also be a surf board or a wakesurf board in some embodiments.

Additional technological improvements of the concepts of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, or otherwise appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the relevant art upon a review of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will be more fully understood by reference to the following figures, which are for illustrative purposes only. These non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described with reference to the following drawings, wherein labels refer to corresponding components throughout the various views unless otherwise specified. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale in some figures. For example, the shapes of various elements are selected, enlarged, and positioned to improve drawing legibility. In other figures, the sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are exactly to scale. The particular shapes of the elements as drawn may have been selected for ease of recognition in the drawings. The figures do not describe every aspect of the teachings disclosed herein and do not limit the scope of the claims.

FIG. 1 is an isometric exploded view of a motorized watercraft system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the motorized watercraft system of FIG. 1 coupled to a board and a cover plate of a propulsion system removed to illustrate the propulsion system in more detail.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a controller suitable for executing an embodiment of a motorized watercraft system that performs at least some techniques described in the present disclosure, as well as various devices and/or computing systems connected thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art will understand that the present disclosure is illustrative only and not in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the presently disclosed systems and methods readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the assistance of this disclosure.

Each of the features and teachings disclosed herein can be utilized separately or in conjunction with other features and teachings to provide motorized watercraft devices, systems, and methods. Representative examples utilizing many of these additional features and teachings, both separately and in combination, are described in further detail with reference to attached FIGS. 1-3 . This detailed description is merely intended to teach a person of skill in the art further details for practicing aspects of the present teachings and is not intended to limit the scope of the claims. Therefore, combinations of features disclosed in the detailed description may not be necessary to practice the teachings in the broadest sense, and are instead taught merely to describe particularly representative examples of the present teachings.

Moreover, the various features of the representative examples and the dependent claims may be combined in ways that are not specifically and explicitly enumerated in order to provide additional useful embodiments of the present teachings. It is also expressly noted that all value ranges or indications of groups of entities disclose every possible intermediate value or intermediate entity for the purpose of original disclosure, as well as for the purpose of restricting the claimed subject matter. It is also expressly noted that the dimensions and the shapes of the components shown in the figures are designed to help understand how the present teachings are practiced, but are not intended to limit the dimensions and the shapes shown in the examples in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the dimensions and the shapes of the components shown in the figures are exactly to scale and intended to limit the dimensions and the shapes of the components.

Although the following disclosure will proceed to describe certain examples of a motorized watercraft provided in a form factor of a wakesurf board or a surf board, the concepts of the disclosure are not limited thereto, but rather, can be applied broadly to any number of different water sports or water activities as well as with a wide range of watercraft. The concepts of the disclosure may also be useful in additional fields, such as with respect to any activity or sport that would benefit from a temporary boost of thrust in performance of the activity or sport. Accordingly, the disclosure is not limited to wakesurfing and surfing.

FIG. 1 is an isometric exploded view of a motorized watercraft system 100 implemented in a form factor of a board 102 with a cassette 104 removably coupleable to the board 102. As above, the board 102 may be a surf board or a wakesurf board in a preferred embodiment, although the board 102 could also be another type of board or watercraft as those terms are defined herein. Further, the cassette 104 should be interpreted broadly to include a number of form factors that are removably insertable or removably coupleable to the board 102 and may also be referred to herein as a housing 104, a thrust assembly 104, or some other like term. The board 102 includes a body with a first or top surface 106A and a second or bottom surface 106B opposite to the first or top surface 106A. One or more fins 108 are coupled to and extend from the bottom surface 106B to assist the rider or other user with riding a wave and generally enabling change of direction and additional stability in water. A rider or other user may stand or otherwise position themselves on the top surface 106A during use and the top surface 106A may include grip tape, a rough surface to increase friction, or a pad of some type to improve the rider's grip on, and control of, the board 102.

The board 102 further includes a mounting space 110 in the top surface 106A implemented as a cavity, recess, or hollow for receiving the cassette 104. As shown in FIG. 2 , the cassette 104 is removably coupled to the board 102 and received in the mounting space 110. Returning to FIG. 1 , the mounting space 110 extends from an outermost edge or rear side of the board 102 that is opposite to a front or pointed side of the board 102 and extends at least partially into, but not all the way through, the board 102. In an embodiment, the mounting space 110 generally has a constant depth over its length along the board 102, although the same is not necessarily required. Further, the board 102 may include one or more depressions 112 in the first surface 106A and arranged along edges of the mounting space 110 for receiving mounting plates of the cassette 104 to enable the cassette 104 to be removably coupleable to the board 102 with the cassette 104 generally arranged planar with respect to, or otherwise aligned with, the first surface 106A. In an embodiment, the mounting space 110 is in the bottom surface 106B rather than the top surface 106A. In yet further embodiments, the mounting space 110 may be at a front of the board 102 instead of at the rear of the board as shown in FIG. 1 , or may be in either the top or bottom surface 106A, 106B anywhere between the front and rear of the board 102, as well as being in left and right sides of the board 102. Accordingly, the mounting space 110 and cassette 104 may be located in any selected location relative to the board 102.

An intake 114 extends through the second surface 106B of the board 102 and leads into the mounting space 110 proximate the rear side of the board 102. The intake 114 is in communication with a propulsion system of the cassette 104 to enable water to be drawn into the propulsion system via the intake 114 during operation of the system 100, and as further explained below. The system 100 further includes a remote control device 116 in communication with the cassette 104, and in particular, in communication with a controller of the cassette 104 described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 . Briefly, the rider or other user may hold the remote control device 116 during use and provide one or more inputs on the remote control device 116 that are communicated to the cassette 104 to activate a propulsion system of the cassette 104. The remote control device 116 may be water proof or water resistant and in communication with the cassette 104 through either a wired or wireless connection according to any of the communication protocols discussed herein.

The cassette 104 includes a body or a housing with one or more cover plates 118 that may be removable to provide access to internal components of the cassette 104 for maintenance, repairs, or other functions. Further, the cassette 104 includes mounting plates 120 extending from outer edges of the cassette 104 at selected locations. The mounting plates 120 may include or more holes for receiving fasteners to removably couple the cassette 104 to the board 102. The mounting plates 120 are received in the depressions 112 in the first surface 106A of the board 102, which may likewise include corresponding holes for the fasteners to couple the cassette 104 to the board 102. Except as otherwise indicated herein, the board 102 and cassette 104 may generally be formed with industry standard materials and processes, such as fiberglass, plastic, thermoplastics, polymers, and the like. In an embodiment, the board 102 is solid, hollow, or inflatable.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the system 100 with the cassette 104 coupled to the board 102 and the cover plate 118 removed to provide more detail regarding internal components of the cassette 104. The cassette 104 is mounted to the top surface 106A of the board 102 with an outermost or top surface 122 of the cassette 104 being planar with, or aligned with, the top surface 106A of the board 102 via the mounting space 110 and depressions 112 described above with reference to FIG. 1 . As a result, the cassette 104 is generally positioned internal to the board 102 with only the outer or top surface 122 of the cassette 104 visible to the rider or other user. Advantageously, this arrangement of the cassette 104 relative to the board 102 does not impact the rider or other user's grip on the board 102 or their interaction with the board 102 during normal operation.

The cassette 104 includes a power source 124 that may be a rechargeable or replaceable battery in some embodiments through a connector to an external power source as well as at least one input and/or status indicator 126. The input and/or status indicator 126 may include a power button or other mechanical actuator operable to turn the cassette ON and/or OFF based on a selection or input from the user. The input and/or status indicator 126 may also include one or more lighting elements for providing a status indication of the power source 124 or other functionality of the cassette 104. The cassette 104 also includes a controller 128 that will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 3 as well as a propulsion system 132. The propulsion system 132 includes a motor 134, an axle 136, and an impeller in a housing 138 with the impeller having an output 140. The motor 134 is an electric motor in communication with at least the controller 128 and the power source 124. The axle 136 is coupled to the motor 134 with the motor 134 driving or rotating the axle 136 in some embodiments in response to receiving power or electricity from the power source 124. The impeller is coupled to the axle 136 and thus rotation of the axle 136 rotates the impeller in the housing 38. In operation, the housing 138 is in communication with input 114 in the bottom surface 106B of the board 102 (FIG. 1 ) and water is drawn into the housing 138 under negative pressure produced by rotation of the impeller in the housing 138. Rotation of the impeller also discharges water through output 140 to provide forward thrust in the system 100.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the output 140 of the impeller may generally be aligned with a central axis from the front to the rear of the board 102 and in some cases, is at least partially positioned between the first and second surfaces 106A, 106B of the board 102. As a result, the forward thrust from the propulsion system 132 likewise provides a forward thrust to the board 102 in the direction of the board to enable additional user control of directionality of the thrust. In an embodiment, the propulsion system 132 is capable of producing bursts of thrust in a range of 100 to 600 Newtons, or any value therebetween to two decimal places. Of course, the propulsion system 132 may also produce more or less thrust, but it has been discovered that this range of force is preferred to propel a rider up the wake where the lead boat is traveling at typical wakesurfing speeds, such as between 9 to 12 miles an hour without being too much thrust that activation of the propulsion system 132 knocks the rider or other user off the board 102. As described in more detail below, the propulsion system 132 produces such bursts of thrust over a selected period of time that is less than an entire operational duration of the system 100. As a non-limiting example, if the system 100 is utilized by a rider or other user for a period of ten minutes while wakesurfing, the system 100 is configured to repeatedly provide bursts of thrust for ten second or less, five seconds or less, or only one to three seconds, including all intervening values, in response to user input on the remote control device 116 over the ten minutes of operation. Thus, the system 100 is not necessarily configured for continuous propulsion in a preferred embodiment, but rather, is selectively utilized to achieve the advantages described herein.

FIG. 3 is an embodiment of an electronic system or controller 128 of the system 100 represented in block diagram or schematic form. As further described below, the controller 128 is suitable for executing or otherwise performing at least some embodiments or techniques described herein with respect to the system 100. The physical or hardware aspects of the controller 128 may be located internal to the cassette 104 with the controller 128 communicatively coupled to at least the remote control device 116 (FIG. 1 ) and the motor 134 of the propulsion system 132 (FIG. 2 ), among other devices.

The controller 128 includes a processor 142, for example a microprocessor, digital signal processor, programmable gate array (PGA) or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The controller 128 includes one or more non-transitory storage mediums, for example read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), and/or Flash memory collectively designated as 144 or other physical computer- or processor-readable storage media in communication with the processor 142. The non-transitory storage mediums 144 may store instructions and/or data used by the processor 142 and the controller 128 generally, for example an operating system (OS) and/or applications. The instructions as executed by the processor 142 may execute logic to perform the functionality of the various implementations or techniques of the devices and systems described herein, including, but not limited to, receiving signals, instructions, or other data from the remote control device 116 described herein, and determining, based on the signals, whether to turn the motor 134 ON and/or OFF, among others.

The controller 128 may include a user interface 146 (“UI”) to enable a rider or other user to operate or otherwise provide input to the controller 128 or system 100 described herein regarding the operational state or condition of the controller 128 and/or the system 100. In an embodiment, the user interface 146 is implemented at least as the input and/or status indicator 126 of FIG. 2 . Additionally, the user interface 146 may include a number of user actuatable controls accessible from the cassette 104. For example, the user interface 146 may include a number of switches or keys operable to turn the cassette 104 ON and OFF and/or to set various operating parameters of the cassette 104, such as power level, thrust, and thrust duration, as well as to check the status of the cassette via the status indicators, among others.

In some embodiments, the user interface 146 may include a display, for instance a touch panel display. The touch panel display (e.g., LCD or LED with touch sensitive overlay) may provide both an input and an output interface for the rider or other user. The touch panel display may present a graphical user interface, with various user selectable icons, menus, check boxes, dialog boxes, and other components and elements selectable by the end user to set operational states or conditions of the cassette 104. The user interface 146 may also include one or more auditory transducers, for example one or more speakers and/or microphones. Such may allow audible alert notifications or signals to be provided to a rider or other user as a result of manual interaction with the user interface 146. Such may additionally, or alternatively, allow a rider or other user to provide audible commands or instructions. The user interface 146 may include additional components and/or different components than those illustrated or described, and/or may omit some components.

The switches and keys of the graphical user interface 146 may, for example, include toggle switches, a keypad or keyboard, rocker switches or other physical actuators of the type described herein. The switches and keys or the graphical user interface 146 may, for example, allow a rider or other user to turn ON the cassette 104 and propulsion system 132, among the additional functionality above.

The controller 128 includes a communications sub-system 148 that may include one or more communications modules or components which facilitate communications with various components of one or more external devices, such as the remote control device 116 and the motor 134 in some embodiments. The communications sub-system 148 may provide wireless or wired communications to the one or more external devices and may include wireless receivers, wireless transmitters and/or wireless transceivers to provide wireless signal paths to the various remote control device components or systems of the one or more paired devices. The communications sub-system 148 may, for example, include components enabling short range (e.g., via Bluetooth®, BLE (“Bluetooth® low energy”), near field communication (NFC), or radio frequency identification (RFID) components and protocols) or longer range wireless communications (e.g., over a wireless LAN, Low-Power-Wide-Area Network (LPWAN), satellite, or cellular network) and may include one or more modems or one or more Ethernet or other types of communications cards or components for doing so. The communications sub-system 148 may include one or more bridges or routers suitable to handle network traffic including switched packet type communications protocols (TCP/IP), Ethernet or other networking protocols.

The controller 128 further includes a power interface manager 150 that manages supply of power from the power source 124 to the various components of the controller 128 and the cassette 104. The power interface manager 150 is communicatively coupled to the processor 142 and the power source 124. Alternatively, in some implementations, the power interface manager 150 can be integrated in the processor 142. The power source 124 may include an external power supply, or a rechargeable or replaceable battery power supply, as described herein. The power interface manager 150 may include power converters, rectifiers, buses, gates, circuitry, etc. in some embodiments. In particular, the power interface manager 150 can control, limit, and/or restrict the supply of power from the power source 124 to the motor 134 based on the various operational states of the cassette 104 and the system generally 100, as described herein.

In some embodiments or implementations, the instructions and/or data stored on the non-transitory storage mediums 144 that may be used by the processor 142 and the controller 128 generally, such as, for example, memory 144, includes or provides an application program interface (“API”) that provides programmatic access to one or more functions of the controller 128. For example, such an API may provide a programmatic interface to control one or more operational characteristics of the cassette 104, including, but not limited to, one or more functions of the user interface 146, processing and/or storing and/or transmitting the data received from the remote control device 116 and/or the motor 134, and controlling characteristics of the propulsion system 132, among others. Such control may be invoked by one of the other programs, other remote device or system, or some other module. In this manner, the API may facilitate the development of third-party software, such as various different user interfaces and control systems for other devices, plug-ins, and adapters, and the like to facilitate interactivity and customization of the operation and devices within the cassette 104.

In an embodiment, components or modules of the controller 128 and other devices within the cassette 104 and system 100 are implemented using standard programming techniques. For example, the logic to perform the functionality of the various embodiments or techniques described herein may be implemented as a “native” executable running on the controller 128, e.g., processor 142, along with one or more static or dynamic libraries. In other embodiments, various functions of the controller 128 may be implemented as instructions processed by a virtual machine that executes as one or more programs whose instructions are stored in memory 144. In general, a range of programming languages known in the art may be employed for implementing such example embodiments, including representative implementations of various programming language paradigms, including but not limited to, object-oriented (e.g., Java, C++, C #, Visual Basic.NET, Smalltalk, and the like), functional (e.g., ML, Lisp, Scheme, and the like), procedural (e.g., C, Pascal, Ada, Modula, and the like), scripting (e.g., Perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, VBScript, and the like), or declarative (e.g., SQL, Prolog, and the like).

In a software or firmware implementation, instructions stored in a memory configure, when executed, one or more processors 142 of the controller 128 to perform the functions of the controller 128. The instructions cause the microprocessor 142 or some other processor, such as an I/O controller/processor, to process and act on information received from the remote control device 116 or other external device to provide the thrust functionality described herein.

The embodiments or implementations described above may also use well-known or other synchronous or asynchronous client-server computing techniques. However, the various components may be implemented using more monolithic programming techniques as well, for example, as an executable running on a single microprocessor, or alternatively decomposed using a variety of structuring techniques known in the art, including but not limited to, multiprogramming, multithreading, client-server, or peer-to-peer (e.g., Bluetooth®, NFC or RFID wireless technology, mesh networks, etc., providing a communication channel between the remote control device 116 and the cassette 104 and/or controller 128 as well as to external devices or personal computing systems, running on one or more computer systems each having one or more central processing units (CPUs) or other processors. Some embodiments may execute concurrently and asynchronously, and communicate using message passing techniques. Also, other functions could be implemented and/or performed by each component/module, and in different orders, and by different components/modules, yet still achieve the functions of the controller 128.

In addition, programming interfaces to the data stored on and functionality provided by the controller 128, can be available by standard mechanisms such as through C, C++, C #, and Java APIs; libraries for accessing files, databases, or other data repositories; scripting languages; or Web servers, FTP servers, or other types of servers providing access to stored data. The data stored and utilized by the controller 128 and overall detection devices and systems may be implemented as one or more database systems, file systems, or any other technique for storing such information, or any combination of the above, including implementations using distributed computing techniques.

Different configurations and locations of programs and data are contemplated for use with techniques described herein. A variety of distributed computing techniques are appropriate for implementing the components of the illustrated embodiments in a distributed manner including but not limited to TCP/IP sockets, RPC, RMI, HTTP, and Web Services (XML-RPC, JAX-RPC, SOAP, and the like). Other variations are also possible in other embodiments. Other functionality could also be provided by each component/module, or existing functionality could be distributed amongst the components/modules within the cassette 104 and/or the controller 128 in different ways, yet still achieve the functions of the controller 128 and the cassette 104.

Furthermore, in some embodiments or implementations, some or all of the components of the controller 128 and components or other devices within the cassette 104 may be implemented or provided in other manners, such as at least partially in firmware and/or hardware, including, but not limited to, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), standard integrated circuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers), field-programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), complex programmable logic devices (“CPLDs”), and the like. Some or all of the system components and/or data structures may also be stored as contents (e.g., as executable or other machine-readable software instructions or structured data) on a computer-readable medium (e.g., as a hard disk; a memory; a computer network, cellular wireless network or other data transmission medium; or a portable media article to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection, such as a DVD or flash memory device) so as to enable or configure the computer-readable medium and/or one or more associated computing systems or devices to execute or otherwise use, or provide the contents to perform, at least some of the described techniques.

It will be appreciated that the computing systems and devices described herein, including with respect to controller 128 are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. The systems and/or devices may instead each include multiple interacting computing systems or devices, and may be connected to other devices that are not specifically illustrated, including via Bluetooth communication or other direct communication, through one or more networks such as the Internet, via the Web, or via one or more private networks (e.g., mobile communication networks, etc.). More generally, a device or other computing system may comprise any combination of hardware that may interact and perform the described types of functionality, optionally when programmed or otherwise configured with particular software instructions and/or data structures, including without limitation desktop or other computers (e.g., tablets, slates, etc.), database servers, network storage devices and other network devices, smart phones and other cell phones, consumer electronics, wearable devices, biometric monitoring devices, PDAs, wireless phones, Internet appliances, and various other consumer products that include appropriate communication capabilities. In addition, the functionality provided by the system 100 may in some embodiments be distributed in various modules. Similarly, in some embodiments, some of the functionality of the system 100 may not be provided and/or other additional functionality may be available. In addition, in certain implementations various functionality of the system 100 may be provided by third-party partners of an operator of the system 100. For example, data collected by the system 100 may be provided to a third party for analysis and/or metric generation.

It will also be appreciated that, while various items are illustrated as being stored in memory 144 or on storage while being used, these items or portions of them may be transferred between memory 144 and other storage devices for purposes of memory management and data integrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of the software modules and/or systems may execute in memory on another device and communicate with the illustrated computing systems via inter-computer communication. Thus, in some embodiments, some or all of the described techniques may be performed by hardware means that include one or more processors and/or memory and/or storage when configured by one or more software programs and/or data structures, such as by execution of software instructions of the one or more software programs and/or by storage of such software instructions and/or data structures.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, some or all of the systems and/or modules may be implemented or provided in other manners, such as by consisting of one or more means that are implemented at least partially in firmware and/or hardware (e.g., rather than as a means implemented in whole or in part by software instructions that configure a particular CPU or other processor), including, but not limited to, one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), standard integrated circuits, controllers (e.g., by executing appropriate instructions, and including microcontrollers and/or embedded controllers), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), etc. Some or all of the modules, systems and data structures may also be stored (e.g., as software instructions or structured data) on a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums, such as a hard disk or flash drive or other non-volatile storage device, volatile or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM or flash RAM), a network storage device, or a portable media article (e.g., a DVD disk, a CD disk, an optical disk, a flash memory device, etc.) to be read by an appropriate drive or via an appropriate connection. The systems, modules and data structures may also in some embodiments be transmitted via generated data signals (e.g., as part of a carrier wave or other analog or digital propagated signal) on a variety of computer-readable transmission mediums, including wireless-based and wired/cable-based mediums, and may take a variety of forms (e.g., as part of a single or multiplexed analog signal, or as multiple discrete digital packets or frames). Such computer program products may also take other forms in other embodiments. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced with other computer system configurations.

In some embodiments, the memory 144 stores instructions, information, or other data that is executed by the processor 142 to activate the motor 134 to rotate the impeller in the housing 138 and provide a forward thrust over a selected period of time herein less than an operational time of the cassette 104 in response to an input from a user on the remote control device 116. In more detail, and as illustrated in FIG. 1 , the remote control device 116 may be in wireless communication with the controller 128 and may include one or more buttons or other physical actuators for manual input from a rider or other user. Such buttons may turn the propulsion system 132 ON and/or OFF in a single button or multiple buttons. As a result, during operation, the rider or other user carries the remote control device 116 and manipulates the input on the remote control device 116 to activate the propulsion system 132. The remote control device 116 may generally include similar hardware and functionality as the controller, at least with respect to the communications subsystem 148. In response to an input from the rider or other on the remote control device 116, the remote control device 116 transmits information, data, or other signals to the communications subsystem 148 that correspond to the rider or other user's selection. The communications subsystem 148 receives such instructions, data, or other signals from the remote control device 116, and instructs the processor 142 to instructions in the memory 144 corresponding to the user input. In particular, for a selection corresponding to a forward thrust, the processor 142 executes instructions in memory 144 to activate the power interface manager 150 which, in turn, distributes power or electrical from the power source 124 to the motor 134 for driving the propulsion system 132 and producing the thrust.

In an embodiment, thrust may be provided over a selected duration or burst that is configurable or otherwise predetermined. Thus, an input on the remote control device 116 produces an automatic boost for a selected duration and with a selected force. In one or more embodiments, the thrust is provided “on demand” based on an input to the remote control device 116, meaning that the thrust will remain active so long as the rider or other user maintains the input on the remote control device 116 such that the time period for the thrust is selectable by the rider or other user. In yet further embodiments, other characteristics of the propulsion system 132 are selectable by the rider or other user via the remote control device 116. In one non-limiting example, maintenance of the input on the remote control device 116 beyond a certain threshold of time may activate a “boost” mode of the propulsion system 132 where additional power is provided from the power source 124 via the power interface manager 150 to increase the thrust. Thus, the rider or other user may be able to select a short burst of thrust by pressing the input on the remote control device 116 briefly, or may select to activate additional functionality through a longer input on the remote control device 116. The above may also be repeated a number of times during an operational cycle of the system 100, as described herein.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific embodiments have been described herein for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except by the corresponding claims and the elements recited by those claims. In addition, while certain aspects of the invention may be presented in certain claim forms at certain times, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the invention in any available claim form.

The above description of illustrated embodiments, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise forms disclosed. Although specific embodiments of and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art. The teachings provided herein of the various embodiments can be applied outside of the detection system and device context, and are not limited to the example detection systems, methods, and devices generally described above.

For instance, the foregoing detailed description has set forth various implementations of the devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, schematics, and examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, schematics, and examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one implementation, the present subject matter may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations disclosed herein, in whole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in standard integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs executed by one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs executed by on one or more controllers (e.g., microcontrollers) as one or more programs executed by one or more processors (e.g., microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the teachings of this disclosure.

When logic is implemented as software and stored in memory, logic or information can be stored on any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with any processor-related system or method. In the context of this disclosure, a memory is a computer-readable medium that is an electronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical device or means that contains or stores a computer and/or processor program. Logic and/or the information can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor-containing system, or other system that can fetch the instructions from the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device and execute the instructions associated with logic and/or information.

In the context of this specification, a “computer-readable medium” can be any element that can store the program associated with logic and/or information for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, and/or device. The computer-readable medium can be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus or device. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable medium would include the following: a portable computer diskette (magnetic, compact flash card, secure digital, or the like), a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, EEPROM, or Flash memory), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), digital tape, and other nontransitory media.

Many of the methods described herein can be performed with variations. For example, many of the methods may include additional acts, omit some acts, and/or perform acts in a different order than as illustrated or described.

In the above description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the disclosure. However, one skilled in the art will understand that the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures associated with motorized watercraft systems, devices, and methods have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the descriptions of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Certain words and phrases used in the specification are set forth as follows. As used throughout this document, including the claims, the singular form “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural references unless indicated otherwise. The terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like. Other definitions of certain words and phrases are provided throughout this disclosure.

The use of ordinals such as first, second, third, etc., does not necessarily imply a ranked sense of order, but rather may only distinguish between multiple instances of an act or a similar structure or material.

Throughout the specification, claims, and drawings, the following terms take the meaning explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The term “herein” refers to the specification, claims, and drawings associated with the current application. The phrases “in one embodiment,” “in another embodiment,” “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” “in other embodiments,” and other derivatives thereof refer to one or more features, structures, functions, limitations, or characteristics of the present disclosure, and are not limited to the same or different embodiments unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or” operator, and is equivalent to the phrases “A or B, or both” or “A or B or C, or any combination thereof,” and lists with additional elements are similarly treated. The term “based on” is not exclusive and allows for being based on additional features, functions, aspects, or limitations not described, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, throughout the specification, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” include singular and plural references.

As used herein, the term “rider” or “user” may refer to any human operator of a device or system described in the present disclosure. The term “board” may refer to any type of board capable of being used to perform water sports or water activities and includes, but is not limited to, wakesurf boards, surf boards, paddle boards, water skis, wake boards, wind surf boards, skim boards, and kite surf boards, among others. The term “watercraft” refers to any structure buoyant in fresh or salt water and capable of carrying at least one rider or user and includes, but is not limited to boats, kayaks, canoes, and boards, among others. The term “selecting,” when used herein in relation to one or more elements of a graphical user interface or other electronic display, may include various user actions taken with respect to various input control devices depending on the client computing device used to interact with the display, such as one or more clicks using a mouse or other pointing device, one or more tapping interactions using a touch screen of a client device, etc. In addition, such selecting may additionally comprise interactions with various physical actuators capable of generating electrical or electronic signals as a result of such interactions. A nonexclusive list of examples of such actuators include electronic, mechanical or electromechanical implementations of keys, buttons, pressure plates, paddles, pedals, wheels, triggers, slides, touchpads, or other touch- or motion-sensitive element, and may be digital or analog in nature.

Generally, unless otherwise indicated, the materials for making the invention and/or its components may be selected from appropriate materials such as composite materials, ceramics, plastics, metal, polymers, thermoplastics, elastomers, plastic compounds, and the like and may include one or more additives.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, uses specific nomenclature and formula to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It should be apparent to those of skill in the art that the specific details are not required in order to practice the invention. The embodiments have been chosen and described to best explain the principles of the disclosed embodiments and its practical application, thereby enabling others of skill in the art to utilize the disclosed embodiments, and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Thus, the foregoing disclosure is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and those of skill in the art recognize that many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings.

The terms “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “left,” “right,” and other like derivatives are used only for discussion purposes based on the orientation of the components in the Figures of the present disclosure. These terms are not limiting with respect to the possible orientations explicitly disclosed, implicitly disclosed, or inherently disclosed in the present disclosure and unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, any of the aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure can be arranged in any orientation.

As used herein, the term “substantially” is construed to include an ordinary error range or manufacturing tolerance due to slight differences and variations in manufacturing. Unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, relative terms such as “approximately,” “substantially,” and other derivatives, when used to describe a value, amount, quantity, or dimension, generally refer to a value, amount, quantity, or dimension that is within plus or minus 5% of the stated value, amount, quantity, or dimension. It is to be further understood that any specific dimensions of components or features provided herein are for illustrative purposes only with reference to the various embodiments described herein, and as such, it is expressly contemplated in the present disclosure to include dimensions that are more or less than the dimensions stated, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the breadth and scope of a disclosed embodiment should not be limited by any of the above-described embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. A system, comprising: a cassette removably coupleable to a board, the cassette including: a power source; an electric motor in communication with the power source; an impeller coupled to the electric motor; and a controller in communication with the power source and the electric motor, the controller including a memory configured to store instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: activate the electric motor to rotate the impeller and provide an intermittent forward thrust in response to an input from a user.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to store further instructions, the at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: activate the electric motor to provide the intermittent forward thrust to propel a rider on the board on a wake of a boat and increase a relative speed of the rider with respect to the boat.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the board is a surf board.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the board is a wakesurf board.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the board includes: a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; a mounting space in the first surface; and an intake in the second surface.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the cassette is received in the mounting space in the first surface of the board and aligned with the first surface.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the cassette is configured to intake water from the intake in the second surface of the board and output water from the impeller in a direction aligned with the board.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the amount of time is less than ten seconds and the forward thrust is between 100 to 600 Newtons.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory is configured to store further instructions, the at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: repeatedly activate the electric motor to rotate the impeller and provide the forward intermittent thrust for the amount of time at several different instances during the operational time of the cassette in response to additional inputs from the user.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a remote control device in communication with the controller of the cassette, the remote control device configured to receive the input from the user and transmit one or more signals to the controller.
 11. A system, comprising: a board, including: a body with a top surface and a bottom surface opposite to the top surface; a mounting space in the top surface of the body; an intake in the bottom surface of the body; and one or more fins coupled to the bottom surface of the body; and a cassette removably coupled to the board, the cassette receivable in the mounting space in the body of the board with at least a portion of an outer surface of the cassette planar with the top surface of the body of the board, the cassette including: a power source; an electric motor in communication with the power source; and an impeller coupled to the electric motor.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the cassette further includes a controller in communication with the power source and the electric motor, the controller including a memory configured to store instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: activate the electric motor to rotate the impeller and provide an intermittent forward thrust in response to an input from a user.
 13. The system of claim 12, further comprising: a remote control device in communication with the controller of the cassette, the remote control device configured to receive the input from the user and transmit one or more signals to the controller.
 14. The system of claim 12, wherein the amount of time is less than ten seconds and the forward thrust is between 100 to 600 Newtons.
 15. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory is configured to store further instructions, the at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to: repeatedly activate the electric motor to rotate the impeller and provide the forward thrust for the amount of time at several different instances during the operational time of the cassette in response to additional inputs from the user.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the cassette is configured to intake water from the intake in the second surface of the board and output water from the impeller in a direction aligned with a central axis of the board between the first surface and the second surface of the board.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the board is a surf board.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the board is a wakesurf board. 